Toyota Hilux builds on success of last year’s Dakar campaign with cheeky new ad

Toyota South Africa and its long-standing agency, FCB Joburg, have enlisted the support of a world-renowned and very cheeky family to build on the success of 2018’s Dakar campaign, for Dakar 2019.

The Dakar Rally is an annual rally raid organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation. Dakar 2019 consists of 12 days of intensive 4×4 driving through the desert and highlands of Peru. Toyota South Africa’s Dakar 2019 campaign showcases the extreme power and toughness of the bakkie, while rallying support for South Africa’s #TEAMHILUX.

But just which celebrity family is helping out?

Toyota SA’s Hilux Brand and Advertising Manager, Lensha Dlamini, provides the background: “The Toyota Hilux has been the market leader in South Africa for the most part of 50 years, and is respected for its legendary toughness. Part of claiming that it’s the ‘tougher-est’ of the tough, is to prove it; which it does each year at the Dakar Rally.

“Then there’s the added benefit that the legendary toughness stands true for each and every Toyota, not just a Toyota Hilux. Toyota won’t let you down. Completing the Dakar Rally is the ultimate way to show that.”

“Every time a rally driver and his navigator traverse an obstacle – a dune, an anthill, a ‘donga’ – they respond physically. First, there’s the widening of the eyes. Then, their heads tilt back before they wobble around uncontrollably as they land. We claimed this as the #TEAMHILUX nod in our 2018 ad as a mechanism to include all Toyota Hilux drivers in #TEAMHILUX, part of the family, so to say.

“The #TEAMHILUX nod was quickly adopted by many South Africans and used as a mark of acknowledgement from one to the other. In fact, Lensha recalls a scenario in which three border control guards gave her the #TEAMHILUX nod as she crossed the border between South Africa and Swaziland in her Toyota Hilux!”

“We decided to capitalise on the adoption of the nod for Dakar 2019, but brought in a much-loved family to help us up the appeal. They’re no stranger to South Africa’s and the world’s screens, and are desert icons themselves. They are … a family of meerkats!” van den Heever laughs. “Take a look at how they match the Toyota Hilux’s energy in the new TVC here.”:

A meerkat (Suricata suricatta) is a small mammal that lives in the Kalahari Desert in southern Africa. It is a member of the mongoose family. A group of meerkats are usually relatives, hence ‘family’.

The ad went live online on December 17 and launched on national television on December 26. It was shot on the sand dunes close to Mitchells Plain over two days. Post-production was done by Orchestra Blue, with animation by Sinister Studios.